Big Soda Spring
Big Soda Spring sits at Soda Bay in Lake County, warm water half a mile from the community and a short distance off Willow Road. The water comes in right at the bottom of soaking-warm, ninety degrees, pleasant on a cool day. The Wikipedia article that the record links to describes Big Caliente Hot Springs in the Los Padres National Forest, a different spring entirely. Ownership and access are blank.
Willow Road passes within a couple hundred feet. Elevation is low, around thirteen hundred feet, and the climate is mild and fairly wet, twenty-six inches of rain and very little snow. Letts Lake Campground, twenty-one miles out, is a long way for the nearest campground. Nothing in the record describes the land owner or unit.
The rating points at winter, and snow will seldom be in the way. Letts Lake is a drive, as noted. Access has not been recorded, so the half mile from Soda Bay may cross private ground; confirm first. Sitting in water this warm carries no burn risk.
Aircraft with laser scanners measured this ground to within inches. The scan strips out trees and buildings, leaving the bare shape of the land around Big Soda Spring.
Drag the handle to compare the two views. The orange dot marks the spring, in a frame about three quarters of a mile wide.
- Setting
- Hillside
- The spring sits on a steep slope that climbs to the southeast.
- Highest ground nearby
- 322 ft above the spring
- Within a quarter mile, to the southeast
A slice through the ground from northwest to southeast, about 0.6 miles end to end.
Elevation data: USGS 3D Elevation Program. Aerial imagery: USGS The National Map. Public domain.
That's about twice the US average of 65. It's higher than at 92% of the springs on this site.
Heat flow measures the warmth working its way up through the ground from deep inside the earth. Where it runs high, rain and snowmelt that seep down through cracks in the rock come back up hot.
See every spring on the geothermal heat map →
Heat flow estimate: Stanford Thermal Earth Model (Aljubran & Horne, 2024), CC BY 4.0.
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The main feature of the area is a 35-acre lake for non-motorized vessels, trout fishing and swimming. A one-mile trail leads along the lake shore. There are accessible restrooms and a popular fully-accessible fishing pier.
Big Soda Spring is road-accessible, so you can bring more gear.
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